Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-06-15
The Tempest" ("
GREATOCCAsION RECALLED.

AGREAT OCCASION RECALLED.
1T SEEMED AS IF THE LORD HAD
LAUNCHED ONE WAVE OF BEAU
TY ON ALL THE SCENE.
THE TEMPEST FALLS DEAD.
CHRIST STANDS WITH HIS FEET ON
THE NECK OF THE STORM.
OH, WHAT LESSON FOR YOU AND FOR ME
TO LEARN?
WE MUST ALWAYS HAVE CHRIST IN
THE SHIP.
DR.. Talmage's Sermon Sunday, June. 9th.
/ BROOKLYN, June 5.-The Rev. T.DeWitt
Talmage, D. D., preached in the Tabernacle
this morning sermon entitled: "The Tenn
pest" Service began with the exposition
of appropriate passages of Scripture, after
which the great congregation sang the
hymn:
Heaven is my fatherland,
Heaven is my home"
The text was Mark 4, 36-39, describing
Christ stilling the tempest. He said:
Teberias, Galilee, Gennesaret-three
names for the same lake. No other gem
ever had so beautiful setting. 1t lay in a
scene Of great luxuriance; the surrounding
hills high, terraced, sloped. groved, so many
hanging gardens Of beauty, the waters rum
bling down between rocks of gray and red
limestone, flashing from the hills and
bounding into the sea. On the shore were
castles, armed towers, Romau baths, every
thing attractive and beautiful; all styles of
vegetation in shorter space than in almost
any other space in the world, from the palm
tree of the forest to the trees of rigorous
climate.
1t seemed as if the Lord had launched
one wave of beauty on all the scene, and it
hung and swung from rock and hill and
oleander. Roman gentlemen in pleasure
boats sailing the lake, and countrymen in
fish-smacks coming down to drop their nets
pass each other with nod and shout and
laughter, or swinging idly at their moor
ings. Q, what wonderful, what beauti-
full lake!
1t seems as if we shall have quiet night.
Not leaf winked in the air; not a ripple
disturbed the face Of Gennesaret; but there
seems to be a little excitement up the beach,
and we hasten to see what it is, and we find
it an embarkation.
From the western shore flotilla pushing
out; not squadron or deadly armament,
nor clipper with valuable merchandise, nor
pirate vessels ready to destroy everything
they could seize; but fotilla bearing mes
sengers Of life and light, and peace. Christ
is in the front of the boat. His disciples
are in smaller boat. Jesus, weary with
much speaking to large multitudes, is put
into somnolence by the rocking of the
waves. If there was any motion at all the
ship was easily righted; if the wind passed
from starboard to larboard, or from lar
board to starboard, the boat would rock,
and by the gentleness Of the motion putting
the Master asleep. And they extemporised
a pillow made out of fsherman's coat.
think no sooner is Christ PROSTATE and His
head touched the pillow than He is sound
asleep. The breeze of the lake run their
fingers through the locks of the worn Sleep
er, and the boat rises and falls like Sleep
ing child on the bosom of a sleepidg moth
er.
Calm night, starry night, beautiful night,
Run up all the sails, ply all the oars and
let tie large boat and the small boat glide
over gentle Gennesaret. But the sailors
say there is going to be change of wealth
er. And even the passengers can hear the
moaning of the storm as it comes on with
great strides and all the terrors of hurricane
and darkness. The large boat trembles
like deer at bay among the clangor of the
hounds; great patches Of foam are flung in
to the air; the sails of the vessel loosen, and
the sharp winds crack like pistols; the
smaller boats, like petrels, poiss on the cliff
of the waves and then plunge,
Overheard 20 cargo, tackling, and masts,
and the drenched disciples rush into the
back part of the boat and lay hold of Christ
and say unto Him: master, carest Thou
not that we perish?" That great person
age lifts his head from the pillow Of the
fisherman's coat, walks to the front of the
vessel, and looks out into the storm. All
around Him are the smaller boats, driven
in the tempest, and through it comes the
cry of drowning men. By the flash Of the
lightning see the calm brow of Christ az
the spray dropped from his beard. He has
one word for the sky and another for the
waves. Looking upward He cries: "Peacev'
The waves fall fiat on their faces. the
foam melts. the extinguishsd stars re.light
their torches. The tempest falls dead. and
Christ stands with His feet on the neck of
the storm. And while the sailors are bail
ing out the boats, and while they are trying
to untangle the oordage, the disciples stand
in amazement, now looking into the calm
/ sea, then into the calm sky, then into the
calm Savicur's countenance, and they CRY
out: "What manner of man is this, that
| even the winds and the sea obey Hlm?'
The subject, in the first place, impresses
me with the fact that it is very important
to have Christ with the ship; for all those
boats would have gone to the bottom of
Gennesaret if Christ had not been present,
Oh, what lesson for you and for me to
Learnt We must always have Christ in the
ship. Whatever voyage we undertake, in
to whatever enterprise we start, let us al
ways have Christ in the ship. Many of you
in these days ofrevived commerce are start
ing out in new financial enterprises. bid
you good cheer. Do all you can 90. Do it
on as high plane as possible. You have
no right to be a stoker in the ship if you
can be an admiral of the navy. You have
no right to be colonel of regiment if
you can command brigade; you have no
right to be engineer Of boat on river banks
or near the coast if you can take the ocean
steamer from New York to Liverpool. All
you can do with utmost tension of body,
mind and soul you are bound to de; but,
eh! have Christ in every enterprise, Christ
in every voyage, Christ in every ship.
There are men here who ask God to help
them at the start of great enterprises. He
has been with them in the past; no trouble
can overthrow them; the storm might come
down from the top of Mt. Hsrmon and lash
Gennesaret into foam and into agony, but
it could not hurt them.
| But here is another man who starts out
in worldly enterprise, and he depends upon
the uncertainties of this life He has no God
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